Whar winds Forth's stream, He'd wander, meditate, and pour This moral theme : How still and solemn steals the gloom Mild owre the garden's fading bloom! Dim flits the bat athwart the tomb, On leathern wing; Hark! what bemoan'd the slaughter'd doom "Twas but the dove that woos his mate, Unmindfu' o' the monarch's fate: Whar, Grandeur, now thy regal state? Unmarkt!--and gane Nor sculptur'd verse records thy date, Nor moss-grown stane! Yet regal pomp and courtly show, Delighted woo'd Strevlina's fertile fields below, And winding flood! Sublime retreat! belov'd! admir'd! 'Gainst lawless power, And yield, mid social sweets retir'd, Life's happier hour! To sheathe in peace war's slaughtering sword; To drap the king at friendship's board; To draw frae luve's delicious hoard Her honey'd sweet! And chain fierce valour's lofty lord At beauty's feet. Or join the chace, at purple morn, Owre lawns, and heath-bloom'd mountains borne; Wi' hound, and hawk, and bugle horn, And shouting thrang; While Sauchie's glens, beflower'd wi' thorn, Or break the lance, and couch the spear Whar mony a valiant knight and peer Display'd their skill, To courtly beauty, blushing near, On Lady's hill. Thus, tun'd to pastime's peacefu' string, Blithe was the courtier and the king By Fortha's flood, Till Faction soar'd on raven wing, Bedrapt wi' blood! Twas then ilk sport and rural charm Rebellion loud, wi' dread alarm, Skreigh'd wild her cry, And murder dark, wi' dagger'd arm Stood watching by! O Treason!-ranc'rous, ruthless fae! Not guiltless power, here chang'd to clay,* Nor ward thy boiling bloody fray And butchering knife! Alas! nor he,† whase youthfu' bloom And fancy, at her fairy loom Shot radiant light! -Insatiate fiend! could nought allay Brought dool and care, Whan Scotland's Flowers were wed awa,‡ To bloom nae mair. Nor Solway's heart-break, and disgrace,§ James III. murdered in the village of Bannockburn, after the battle fought with his rebellious nobles, under the command of the Duke of Rothsay, his own son. He was buried near the remains of his queen, in the abbey church of Cambuskenneth, 1488. † James I. of Scotland Alluding to the beautiful and pathetic ballad of the 'Flow ers of the Forest.' James V. was so affected with the unfortunate and disgrace. ful affair at Solway Firth, near the river Esk, that he died a few days afterwards, literally of a broken heart. Mary Queen of Scotland. Could stop, fell fae! thy furious pace Bestain'd wi' crime, Fled Scotia's clime. Till Stuart's royal, luckless race! -Dark gloom'd the morn, owre land and sea, Whan Scotia, sad, wi' tearfu' ee, Saw, frae her pine-wav'd cliffs on hie, And aiken bowers, Her king, and independence flee Strevlina's towers! Not sae the morn, that beaming shed His patriot train, And dy'd these blood-drench❜d furrows red Wi' hostile slain ! Nor yet, O Bruce!* the morn that shone Bright, bright! whan (Edward's host ow'r thrown) High, on yon proud hill' Standard Stone,† Thy banners flew ! While freedom, loud, in raptur❜d tone Her clarion blew ! -Enchanting morn! whase magic reign *King Robert the Bruce. The stone where Bruce's standard was fixed during the me morable battle of Bannockburn. It may still be seen on an emi. nence near the village of St. Ninians, with a hole in the centre where the end of the standard was fixed, and thence named 'the bore stone. Led Ceres, wi' her laughing train And gowden store Round Bannockburn's ensanguin'd plain, And Carron's shore. Round Carun's stream,' o' classic name, His heav'n-taught lays, And sang his Oscar's deathless fame -Names, gratefu' to the patriot's ear! -Dear to the Muse!-but doubly dear To Liberty!" Thus, (blind to prudence' warning light) O warldly blame He'd muse, and dream, till dark midnight, Then daunder hame! Ye flowering plains and winding stream! fe first entic'd his youth to dream In thriftless rhyme! Ye first unlock'd the secret door That led to nature's varied store: * Vide the war of Caros, and the beautiful poem Comala. VOL. XXXIX. Dd |
